Hagerstown man charged with arson

HAGERSTOWN — A Hagerstown man has been charged with setting a fire Saturday at his girlfriend’s home on Antietam Drive, the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office said Monday.

Jeffrey Myerly, 52, is charged with one count each of first-degree arson and first-degree malicious burning, and two counts of malicious destruction of property, according to a fire marshal’s office news release.

The fire marshal’s office alleged that Myerly entered the home of Donna Repp at 521A Antietam Drive in Hagerstown at about 9 p.m. Saturday and placed combustibles on the stove burners. Repp returned home and called 911 when she saw heavy smoke inside the building.

It took 31 firefighters about five minutes to control the fire, the fire marshal’s office said.

The fire, which caused about $5,000 in damages, displaced Repp from the home, the fire marshal’s office said. A second-floor occupant of the duplex was not displaced.

Myerly was being held Monday at the Washington County Detention Center on $125,000 bond, a jail spokeswoman said.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Ed Ernst said he responded to the scene after the fire and discovered that every piece of furniture in the living room had been turned upside down.

There also was broken glass from picture frames and other items in the room, Ernst said in court papers filed in Washington County District Court.

Ernst said he went into the kitchen and discovered that the left rear burner of the stove was still on.

Ernst said he talked to Repp at the scene, and she told him that she and Myerly had become involved in an argument at about 5 p.m. Saturday. Repp said she and Myerly got into an argument because she had to go to work Sunday, according to Ernst.

Repp said Myerly had been to a meeting and he had been drinking, according to Ernst. Myerly became angry about Repp having to work and he told her to quit her job, according to Ernst. Myerly left on his motorcycle and Repp left about 7 p.m. to go shopping, according to Ernst.

Repp said she later received two phone calls from Myerly, who called her a name and said he was “trashing the house,” according to court records.

“She said he called a third time and said that he trashed the apartment and set it on fire,” Ernst said in court records.

Repp said she arrived home about 10 minutes after the third phone call and saw that the apartment was filling with smoke, according to Ernst.